Jun 2, 2012

These tunnels made me so nervous. They give the curbside height: 10ft. 4in. We straddled the middle lines every time.

Hiking up to Bridalveil Falls.

View of the falls as they spill over the top. There was so much mist spraying in the air.

In spite of all the DANGER signs, Marci, Conni, and Abe had to climb the rocks.

You can really see the spray here around Abe's face.

Horsetail Falls.

The traveling rig parked beside a meadow with the Horsetail Falls just ahead. Beautiful.

All 4 of the kids. Hiking up to the Lower Yosemite Falls.

Tim sitting on a million year old log watching the kids climb.

I'm so glad we had the big zoom lens. Otherwise, we could never have gotten the kids hike on the camera. They just had to get off the hiking path and the lookout point and go climb up as close to the Lower Falls as possible. Talk about some spray!

They made it!

Here's a view of the Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls.

We drove down the road a ways and pulled over by the river. We all wanted to get in the water - or at least try it - even though we knew it would be cold. I was offered $10 by Marci and Abe to cross the river. I thought I could do it.

I

Conni fell! And boy, was it cold!

Marci inching her way across. It was so cold, and so fast!

I failed on the bet. This is about as far as I made it.

Beautiful and so powerful!

As if that water wasn't cold enough, we headed down river looking for a good swimming hole. Abe wanted a place with a huge rock to jump off of, and deep water to jump into.

Looks like this fits the bill. A rock 12 feet out of the water. Deep water to jump into. Abe and Tim are checking it out...making sure it's safe.

Abe and Marci having a discussion about who would go first. Marci said she would go first, then worked on psyching herself into it.

Check out the mouth. She was not singing hymns, I promise. More like a prolonged scream.

"OH, THAT'S COLD!"

Conni went next, then Abe.

You should've heard the noises coming out of his mouth as he swam back out.

After a few jumps, it's time to dive. Crazy kids.

Three fish. Thankfully, it was a hot day, so the cold water was slightly more bearable. Slightly.

Then the part that I just knew would come: "Come on Mom. You've got to try it! It's so much fun and not really very cold at all!" Right.
Before I could really say yes or no, Tim came and took the camera from me. Next thing I knew, I was standing on the rock looking over the edge. Marci stood below and coached me. I couldn't stop shaking and figured I'd never be ready, so I just jumped.

Don't laugh. I prefer to hold my nose. By the way, there's really no way to prepare yourself for the shock of the cold water.

COLD! DEEP! COLD!

Tim figured it was at least 15 ft. deep. None of us could ever touch bottom.

It was scary, but fun. What an adrenaline rush!

After a few more jumps, we headed back to the RV (where Angi was taking a nap) and hit the road again. Now, we're about 100 miles south of Sacramento. Tim and I fixed fajitas for dinner. Along with the fresh salsa and guacamole Angi made yesterday, it was a yummy meal!

Looking forward to spending time with friends in Oroville tomorrow! So thankful for the opportunity to take this trip and do all we've been able to do; see all we've been able to see.